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Purpose and meaning of Draco’s law code, Athens first written law code However, if the murderer apologizes to the victim’s family and the family accepts the apology, the murderer will be allowed to stay in Athens. Anyone who takes the life of another Athenian, regardless of whether it was an accident or premeditated, will be exiled from Athens indefinitely.agora), or he or she will be prevented from taking part in any religious or sporting festival. Should the murderer be killed by the relative of the murder victim, then he or she will be prevented from entering a public place (i.e. The survivors of a murdered individual are allowed to pursue and apprehend the murderer and thereafter turn him/her over to the city’s authorities who will then try the accused.Examples of Draco’s lawsĮxamples of Draco’s laws which are taken from Aristotle’s The Athenian Constitution: Those wooden tablets were then placed on a three-sided pyramid, allowing them to be read from any side. His written laws, which replaced Athens’ oral law, were framed around the late 7 th century b.c., making them the first written Athenian constitution.Īccording to historians, the laws were written on wooden tablets ( axones) so as to make sure that all Athenians were aware of them. The Athenian lawmaker Draco holds the record of being the first recorded Athenian legislator of ancient Greece. The lawmaker is said to have lived the rest of his life on the island of Aegina. Since that seem highly unlikely, the popularly held notion is that Draco was chased out of the city by Athenians due to how intolerable his laws were. According to the Suda, a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of ancient Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean region, Draco died in an Aeginetan theatre after his supporters suffocated him with many hats. Draconian constitution) became increasingly unbearable, dissent and angst swept through the city-state of Athens. For example, one of Draco’s laws stated that debtors that could not pay their debt be committed into a life of slavery.Īs Draco’s laws (i.e. His laws came as a huge surprise to the Athenians that elected him to that high position. Unfortunately for the citizens of Athens, Draco’s laws were too harsh as it slapped capital punishment on minor offences. Thus Draco is commonly known as the first Athenian lawmaker elected (by the elites and wealthy landowners) in a democratic fashion.
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Draco’s laws were made in such a way that they were to be enforced by a court of law. Draco is said to have lived in an era before the emergence of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, a group of 6th-century BCE Greek philosophers, legislators and statesmen known for their unbridled wisdom and contributions to Athenian society.Īround the late 7th century BCE, Athenians (primarily the aristocrats) chose Draco to enact written laws that would replace then existing oral laws. What we know about Draco is that he was part of a family that came from noble roots in Attica. Owing to the fact that it was the 7th century BCE, a time when authorship and writing were not common, not much is known of the early life and childhood of Draco the Athenian lawmaker. Praised for: being the first recorded lawmaker of Athens Biography